


Noir

by FrazzledDragon



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Funeral, Getting through heartbreak, Melancholy Ending, RIP Sabine, Sad, Sorry Sabine, pre-reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 17:52:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18481330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrazzledDragon/pseuds/FrazzledDragon
Summary: Marinette doesn't know how to deal with loss or guilt.Adrien knows a thing or two about both.





	Noir

If Marinette had held a glass of champagne and had been smoking a cigarette, Adrien might’ve thought she popped out of a film noir. Her short dark hair in soft waves rippling down to her shoulders, her black silk dress down to her ankles and her thin black heels forgotten beside her. Even the weather, cloudy yet bright all at once, is so similar to the film noir aesthetic. She sits on the mossy brick wall, silent.

But, she doesn’t have a flute of champagne, she’s got a plastic water-bottle that she twists in her hands. There’s no smoking cigarette, just a baby pink rose strewn to the side. She’s crying, her shoulders shaking. Her makeup is streaked down her cheeks, her red lipstick smudged. She was a mess, unlike any film noir would let her appear to be.

Adrien came around and sat beside her, equally silent for a long moment. They didn’t look at each other. “I wasn’t allowed to attend my mom’s funeral... I’m not trying to make this about me, I know it’s not. But you should know you’re handling this well. So is your father. And if I had gotten to go to her funeral, I would have wanted it to be just like this one. Beautiful, simple, and heart-felt.”

Her shoulders shake some more, her usually bright eyes dull as they scan aimlessly over the rows and rows of granite tombstones. Tears  _ plink plink plink _ onto the concrete beneath her feet. “Marinette, you’ll be okay. Both of you. Even if it’s not today, or tomorrow, or even a year from now. You’ll be okay.”

Marinette still says nothing, the plastic of the water-bottle cracking loudly as she twists it violently between her palms.

“Marinette, listen to me. This wasn’t your fault. You did everything you could and more, okay? You kept your head in the game when everyone else would have panicked. You would have made Ladybug proud.”

“I didn’t, Adrien. I was a coward. I let her die.”

“Marinette, it was you or her or both. And she picked her. She saved you. There was nothing more you could have done, and trust me, blaming yourself gets you nowhere.”

“There is  _ always  _ more I could have done!” Marinette snaps, baring her teeth in a trembling snarl, finally looking at Adrien out of the corner of her eye. “I had a choice, and I picked wrong.”

Adrien’s next words are heavy, but he says them regardless. “Ladybug and Chat Noir should have been there to save you. Both of you.” His eyes fall from hers in shame.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir are no excuse for my complacency!” Marinette growls with an intensity Adrien is unaccustomed to hearing. “They are  _ kids _ , just like us. They are just people. I will not pin  _ my _ failures on  _ their _ shoulders. This isn’t their cross to bear. This is  _ my _ failing. To say otherwise would be deluding myself.”

Adrien blinks in surprize, his hand finding Marinette’s. “Marinette, that’s what heroes are for. They exist to have burdens we can’t bear pinned to their lapels like medals. The hurt we can’t ease, the problems we can’t solve, the losses we can’t replace, the changes we can’t stop, the hearts that have to break. People like Ladybug and Chat Noir exist to bear our crosses, to take blame for things they may or may have had a part in. It’s one reason they don’t share their identities. Because if the public were to find out, there’d be no refuge from the crosses. They’d be blamed for everything, all the time, always.”

“Then to who do they share their burdens?”

“That’s why there’s two of them. They’ll have each other, always and forever. No one can do it alone.”

She pauses for a moment, thinking. “Maybe... Thanks, Adrien...” Her voice is soft and heavy, but not as heavy as before. “That… actually does make me feel a little better.”

Adrien smiles sadly, his heart heavy. Ladybug had been stressed at their lasting meeting, to the point where she had hardly spoken at all. He needed someone to talk to. “No one can do it alone. Not even you.”

“Not even Ladybug,” she whispers.

“Not even Chat Noir,” he whispers in return.

 


End file.
